THE DYING HUSBAND TO HIS WIFE.
"Bend closer, dearest, I would speak
Though strength be failing, voice be weak,
Fain would I in thy listening ear
Breathe words which only thou should'st hear.
Though strength be failing, voice be weak,
Fain would I in thy listening ear
Breathe words which only thou should'st hear.
My life, now ebbing fast away,
Had been a dull, cold winter's day,
Had not thy love dispelled the gloom,
And caused this desert heart to bloom.
Had been a dull, cold winter's day,
Had not thy love dispelled the gloom,
And caused this desert heart to bloom.
Nay, weep not, darling, see yon star
So calmly shining from afar;
'Tis like thine eyes, whose holy light
E'er turned to day my darkest night.
So calmly shining from afar;
'Tis like thine eyes, whose holy light
E'er turned to day my darkest night.
The sickle speaks the Reaper near,
E'en now his footsteps greet my ear;
Hark! voices bid me come away,
They gleam in sight, the gates of day!
E'en now his footsteps greet my ear;
Hark! voices bid me come away,
They gleam in sight, the gates of day!
